Dec 7, 2012

Slow cooked shredded chicken with corn, tomatoes and black beans. Prep this the night before and turn your crock pot on in the morning for an easy weeknight meal.

Serve over rice or in a bowl with nachos on the side, and don't forget the toppings. Chopped scallions, fresh cilantro, fat free yogurt or sour cream and reduced fat cheddar are my favorites.

Crock Pot Sante Fe Chicken came in first place (yay!) for Ziplist's most saved recipe
in 2012 (they have over 800K recipes). I'm thrilled, and I see why you
would choose this one! It's delicious, easy, requires no pre-cooking,
and everyone loves an easy slow cooker recipe. It's also kid-friendly,
freezer friendly and gluten-free. In it's honor I decided to revive it
from the archives and give it some love.

Cook on low for 10 hours or on high for 6 hours. Half hour before serving, remove chicken and shred. Return chicken to slow cooker and stir in. Adjust salt and seasoning to taste. Serve over rice or tortillas and your favorite toppings.

This is exactly what a crock pot recipe should be - quick, minimal prep, and tasty. I hate crock pot recipes that take 20 mins or more to get together; I had a whim to make it, and 10 minutes later it was cooking away (and that includes finding stuff in my pantry!). I did find it was a bit watery, but that's more due to my poor measuring/approximating skills than anything. I put some lemon pepper in it, too, which was great! I also found it was extremely versatile. Tomorrow I'm going to top it with some cornbread and make a nice casserole. Thanks for such a tasty WW recipe (and your site is beautiful!). :)

@Melissa, I agree! If I have to spend too much time prepping a crock pot meal, I might as well cook it on the stove! I am glad you liked it, it really is versatile and you can adjust the spices according to what you have on hand. Taco seasoning tastes great in place of the spices, and you can add jalapenos if you like it spicy!

Great recipe Gina! Made it again for dinner! Added a little more cayenne and dear husband loved it even more! He put chile con queso on the top of it! (I'm sure that blows the WW aspect, but it was really good!)

This looks fantastic - adding it to the weeks menu and can't wait to try it!Quick question - can you use boneless chicken breast or does it need to have the bone in? I get nervous about bones in the slow cooker.

YUMMY!!I made the dish for dinner the other night and my fiance loved it so much he wants me to put in the weekly rotation!!! He says "It's funny how the simple throw together dinners are the best tasting!"Thanks so much for your wonderful site! :)

Thanks for the great site! I made this dish for my husband and I and we LOVED it!!!! It was so easy and full of flavor it didn't even taste like a "diet" dish! It would also be great served warm at a party as a "dip" with some tostitos! Thanks again!

Oh my goodness...I stumbled upon your site somehow and I'm glad I did. I printed out 4 of your recipes last week and this was the first one that I mademade on Saturday....it was just delicious...a little zippy for me (so I'll cut down the spices next time) but hubby and I just loved it. I'll be back for more...by the way I just started a modified WW program and so far so good.

I just stumbled across this site trying to Google and old WW recipe and I am so glad I did. Trying to get back with the program and this site has given me a great start. I am making this tomorrow night and have created a grocery list for next week using a bunch of the other recipes I found!

This is an awesome recipe! In an Azteca taco salad bowl I layer the Chipotle's Cilantro Lime Rice (1st layer) then this Santa Fe Chicken (2nd layer), some cheese, a dollop of sour cream, and salsa, finishing it off with green onions. It is soooo YUMMY! I've made this for many friends and family and everyone loves it. I'm making it today and when I told my 8 year old, he literally yelled YAHOO!

Your recipes are just perfect for my family - simple, healthy and delicious. It also helps when they look super pretty too! I made this Santa Fe Chicken this week and it was delicious (I added in shredded carrot). We served it over rice and the next day we drained off some of the juice and had it in burritos. Thank you for sharing your recipes and taking the time to blog all about it!!

Hey Gina, thank you so much for this recipe! we found it was amazing nachos and in a wrap as well :) and i loved how easy it was! i will be looking forward to your new crock-pot recipes, i love that thing. the best part is my boyfriend usually wont go near my 'healthy' food, and he couldn't get enough!

Gina,Just made this recipe this week and used frozen sweet corn from our garden, it was awesome! I doubled the recipe and put left overs in containers to freeze for quick meals this winter. My sister came over while it was cooking and had a taste test,needless to say she now has the recipe! Thank You so Much!

@Cleo - Thanks for pointing out that website. I found this recipe as well as a ton of my other recipes copy and pasted on their site with no mention of where they got the recipe and no link back. Makes me so mad.

The recipe was super easy and delicious! I started weight watchers again after giving birth 5 weeks ago and have been using only yuor recipes so far! They have all been delicious, this is my go to recipe site.

Gina - I'm cooking as we speak and it smells wonderful! I am 5 hrs. in on high and it seems that there is still a lot of liquid. Is this normal? Also, the cup serving size...is that with the liquid strained out?

Hi - has anyone figured out the calories / fat / fiber for this? In addition to WW, I journal my food on sparkpeople.com, and I need to enter this as a new food, but I need nutritional info for that. I can break it down, but thought if someone else had done it, I wouldn't have to reinvent the wheel... Thanks!

So funny! I was at Kroger and had recipe on my phone to get ingredients and read a comment from my friend who shared this with me!! Everyone loves it. Emily the cooking mama taught me to make this with chipotle rice in the taco salad bowl. I've shared this with friends also. Even my 14 yr old daughter makes it sometimes. It is salty though so I suggest if sodium is an issue for some use low sodium broth and beans!!!I'm going to make it with shredded pork tonight!

OMG! This was fantastic! Made it yesterday in the crock pot and when I got home my house smelled incredible! It was sooo good! I think it's going to be a weekly addition to our menu rotation! Thanks Gina for such a great site and wonderful recipes!

My 3 teenagers have not been huge fans of my healthy eating since I started WW. However, since finding your site & cooking some of these recipes, they have a new perspective. This recipe is their fave. (Can't tell you how many bowls of this my 15-year old boy ate!)LOVED IT!!!! Thank you!

Gina - do you think you could add "drain beans" to the recipe? This is the second time I've cooked, and the 2nd time i've forgotten to drain the beans (i'm a step by step recipe follower) - still very delish, just wish i would have remembered to drain the beans! :) Thanks for your hard work and dedication to this website - we LOVE your recipes!

Just wonderful! made last night and my husband went crazy for it.... even he was like this is now a low fat recipe there is no way - well surprise surprise!!! Thanks yet again Gina you have out done yourself!

I have the bulk bag of frozen chicken breasts in my freezer. How many should I use for this recipe? I'm afraid if I weigh them frozen they will be heavier??? or am I crazy?? haha Ballpark figure 2 or 3? I don't want to thaw them,or do you recommend I thaw them for the recipe?

Thank you so much for this recipe! Brava! I am looking for meals that will "serve two masters", me on weight watchers and my family of three teenage boys and their athletic father! This one was a huge hit with everybody. My only complaint: I will have to get another crockpot and make two batches next time!

I have to tell you that I found your site about a month ago and I've tried several recipes- all great- but this one is fantastic! I've even passed the link on to other friends on WW. Thank you so much for the time you put into this site!

Thank you Gina for this fantastic recipe! It's super easy, healthy and delicious. I thought it was going to need to be thickened but after you shred the chicken and toss it back in the crock pot..its perfect! I enjoyed mine on a whole wheat tortilla and topped with a little cheese. YUMMY! Thanks again!~Julie

I have a house full of stampers coming tomorrow and this is what I'm serving. I'm going to make everything tonight then wake up BRIGHT AND EARLY to turn it on. I'm SUPER excited ... I've been eyeing this recipe for a long time.

This is the first recipe I have made of yours I have to say it was wonderful!My two 8 year olds and husband loved it. It was quick and easy, made it the night before and cooked all day while I was at work. Cant wait to try more recipes!!Thank you!! Have a couple other recipes already picked out cant wait to try...

Made the dish and it is delicious. I used the Weight Watchers recipe builder and entered your ingredients and they came up with a point value of 3 for 8 servings. Just wondering why there is a difference. I don't want to use the extra 1.25 points if I don't have to but also don't want to under value my points. When you are down to 18 points a day everyone counts! Any idea/thoughts?

I made this for dinner tonight and loved it! So satisfying! I served it over saffron rice because I had some leftover from another meal but definitely want to try the chipotle-lime rice next time. I have tons of leftovers so I think tomorrow I'll use it for tostadas!

I made this for dinner last night and I followed the recipe to a T.. It turned out great except it was VERY liquidy, almost like a soup. I had to drain all the liquid before I could serve it, and even then it made everything soggy. I used a normal crock pot, put in on low for 9 hrs, took out my 2 chicken breasts, shredded them and put them back fro another 30-45min..Can someone please tell me what I did wrong? Thanks!

Not sure Andrea, it should be a little stewy, but perhaps using less chicken broth next time would solve this problem. Not all crock pots cook the same, and you really lose very little liquid in a crock pot.

@Amanda- I love that it's less points! I'm not sure how I feel about that, I've had my recipes in similar sites and if it was for your own use, I wouldn't mind, but it's hard to go through all the work of putting a recipe up, and then not getting the traffic on my site for it. Let me get back to you on that.

Gina, I made this dish tonight and it was absolutely incredible!! Even my husband loved it!! I served it with one cup of brown rice (3points) and 13 tortilla chips (Snyders' White Corn...3 points) I was truly FULL after eating that!! Thank you for your site! I cant wait to try more recipes!!!

Wow! This is probably my favorite main dish from your site so far. I'm already addicted to the Cilantro Lime Rice! I was in a rush this morning and didn't read the recipe so I made the chicken in the crock pot like the Chicken Ropa since I had made it recently. After I got home I realized I should have cooked it all at once. I went ahead and put all ingredients into a clean crock pot, added the shredded chicken, and cooked it for another hour. OMG! It was wonderful. Food like this and I might be skinny again someday:)

A friend just showed me your site after I recently started WW. As an avid food blogger and food blog reader I'm thankful to find a food blogger with WW points recipes! Anyhow, I put this in the crockpot this morning, but last night I made the Asian Turkey Meatballs and Mr. Quirky RAVED over them.

My kids have not even finished eating dinner yet, but I felt compelled to comment! Mine came out very soupy, because I didn't read the comments first and I didn't drain the beans. However, it was still so delicious!! My kids are chowing down on it, which is very, very impressive. Well, the one-year-old is a garbage disposal, so that doesn't say too much. But, my two-year-old typically won't even try most of the things I make and usually eats her fruit for dinner and not much else. She started off just picking out the beans, but is now taking full bites and saying "mmmm....it's yummy!" after every bite!! This is definitely going to become a staple for our family! :)

I love this recipe! I make it all of the time and my husband loves it too! Instead of putting it over rice we put it over a bed of lettuce, add a little 2% cheese, and 1 TBSP of light sourcream. Great salad! I have lost 55 lbs and will be at my goal weight in 6 more!

I made this for dinner the other night and the family really liked it. The husband and son then reheated the leftovers and added some salsa and a tad bit of sour cream. They are already begging me to make it again! I love recipes that are requested over and over! Thanks!

I have been googling WW recipes and came to this site. I made this along with 2 other recipes this weekend, and they are sooooo good. I have been doing ww for 3 years and recently became a first time mom, and gained back 30 lbs. I am back on track and needed great tasting food. Thank you for these. I'm going to try at least one a week!

I made this, only a really quick version of it, so it didn't get to marinate & cook all day. It was delicious and I can only imagine how good the crock pot version would be. I am sharing this recipe with my family and this website. Thank you for a GREAT website!!

I am a complete dolt when it comes to cooking, but I want to make this for my boyfriend and I this weekend. Silly question: do the chicken breasts just need to be thawed, or are they cooked beforehand?

Will you marry me? Seriously! This is so stinking good I had to stop eating in the middle of dinner and come tell you how delicious this stuff is! I feel like I'm eating too big of a portion though and that NEVER happens! I weighed out 9.75 oz and it is a TON of food. Is that right? If I knew about your site before I might not need to be on WW now. You are GOOD! ~Karen

This is the first recipe I tried from here, it was awesome. I had guests over and there was nothing left. Again, easy, simple ingredients and yummy. I plan on eating this at least 1 a month. Hmmm Hmmm!

Made this last week and it was so good it's back on the menu this week. Love your crock pot recipes...so easy to get dinner on the table. This one tasted even better the next day as leftovers for lunch over rice. Looking forward to trying more of your recipes:))

This is in the crock pot as I type! This is my first crock pot adventure, so I'm a little nervous. This one was so easy that I had to try it. I'm learning to keep more "cooking items" around the house like the chicken broth, black beans and diced tomatoes. All I had to stop and buy was the scallions and cilantro. Thanks for all of your great recipes!

Fixed this Monday. To date, our favorite recipe of yours has been the Spicy Shrimp Fried Rice. This one gives it a run for its money! Both will now be in our weekly rotation! THANK YOU for your awesome recipes!!!!!!

I have made this one so many times now I can't even count them. It is just a wonderful, easy, tasty, low point recipe. Sometimes we have it with rice, but often times we just eat it alone with a salad. Thanks for another great recipe!

I'd never made this meal before, so I was a little nervous about it. I left it cooking overnight and it was ready to go this morning and smelled DELICIOUS. My plan was to have it for lunch and dinner and freeze the rest for future meals, but my family came over and they have been eating it all morning! It's almost all gone! I also made your pumpkin cheesecake. We'll see how that goes over. Thank you so much for these recipes! So delicious, Gina!!

This is cooking right now and it smells so wonderful.! I did not drain the beans or the tomatoes, so there is a lot of liquid in there. Do you usually drain both the beans and the tomatoes? I'll see how it comes out after I shred the chicken, but if it is still soupy, do you have any tricks for thickening?

Gina, we use your recipes a couple times a week, and they have all been AWESOME. I've told everyone at the gym about you, too. It is so nice to have this resource for healthy, delicious, beautiful food. THANK YOU!

Gina i wanted to know if you are changing the point on this since the weight watchers changed.... i was wondering if you are gonna put up carbohydrates and protein on the nutrition fact list? Love your website :)

This recipe is awesome Gina. I stumbled across your site when I was looking for a baked empanada recipe before Thanksgiving and I feel like I have landed on goldmine. I tried your picadillo using ground turkey meat on Monday and made this Crock Pot Santa Fe Chicken tonight and both of these will be in regular rotation when I am planning my weekly dinner menu. I follow a yeast free diet so I have to adjust things a bit but your recipes have such simple and healthy ingredients to begin with that this was not a hard task. Some of my colleagues at work follow the Weight Watcher's point program so I told them about your site today. They agreed that it was awesome. Would you mind me sharing the recipes I make on my yeast free site? I will of course link to your site. Just wanted to ask since I was leaving a comment anyway. Thank you for this wonderful site!

Good friend of mine pointed me to your site after making the Chicken Divan Lightened Up. I have a pot luck tonight, so I decided to try this recipe. Let me tell you what though... after smelling this all day, it might not make it to the pot luck! This smells awesome! I will definitely be coming to your site again for good WW friendly recipes!

Gina - Just a follow up on that pot luck. It got absolute rave reviews from every person that tried it! I printed the recipe to share with folks including info on your site. This just launched itself to one of my family's favorites! I can't wait to try something else on your site!

I made this last night with cilantro lime rice, and it was very tasty. My grocery store didn't have tomatoes with green chillies, so I used plain diced tomatoes & added a small can of chopped green chillies. Couldn't find low fat cheddar, so used low fat mozzarella instead. A delicious meal, can't wait for leftovers. Thank you so much, Gina! You help make WW a liveable lifestyle for me.

I made this yesterday at my daughter's so my grandson and I could eat and still have it hot when my daughter and her friend got home from camping. At first, I couldn't get my 5 year old grandson to try it, but once he did, he pronounced it "impressive!" I have to agree!!

Gina, I am in LOVE with your website. I have this recipe (my first from your site) ready in the crock pot, as we speak, and the cilantro lime rice on the stove. It smells divine! Thank you for all you do. It is so very helpful!

Hi Gina - another great recipe from you! I made your broccoli cheese & potato soup on Sunday. OMG! So awesome! This recipe I made last night for my family and although my kids wouldn't eat it (they live on air, I swear this is true...) my husband and I loved it! Does your picture show exactly how yours looked or did you have to use a slotted spoon to drain off the liquid to get to the "stuff"? I had a lot of liquid and next time I will probably leave out the chicken broth. Maybe I did something wrong? I any event, I thought it tasted fantastic and I put mine over rice and topped it with 2 % cheddar cheese, diced green onions, diced cilantro and a few Tbsp of fat free sour cream. LOVED IT! Keep up the great work you're doing here!

Hi Gina - LOVE your site! Made this last night but my husband does not like black beans. Can I remove them from the recipe or use something else instead? If I do remove them, will the cook time be about the same? Thanks, Michelle

I made this recipe along with the Cilantro Lime Rice the other night and invited my parents over for dinner. Everyone loved it, including my super picky mother. She even asked for left overs to take home! :) Thank you!!!

Made this dish tonight and it was very good! Nice flavors and I loved coming home to this from work and having the aroma fill my apartment. I served it over rice this time, but next time I'm planning on making as a burrito...I can already taste it :)

I guess maybe I am the only one who really didn't care for it? I just didn't think it had a lot of flavor. I cooked my chicken on low and it was done in 5 hours. I ended up draining all the liquid out of it and simmering it on the stove for 30 minutes with some more cumin, a pinch of dried oregano and some chili powder.

I made this last night for my family and I and this was simply amazing!! Thanks for Sharing!! My sister and I LOOOOOVE your site!! Tonight we will be making your Spinach Stracciatella Soup with Orzo!! Cant wait! :)

I have been using this recipe for about a year and still LOVE LOVE LOVE it... I do add a few variations to it... I add a good bit of fresh chopped spinach and fresh garlic and there is a great mexican spice called "TaJin" that you can find in the produce section. It has a lime flavor with chili peppers. LOVE IT. Adds a great zing.. and sometimes I will add a little lime to the soup as well. I LOVE THIS SITE and recipes. Thanks for your hard work and helping us stay on track! :) ~Leigh~

Wow, I just was told about your blog and I made this today- delicious!!! It was amazing how the chicken just fell apart and was so moist- Can't wait to try more. Thanks to Sara at the Fairfax Hospital Peds unit for letting me know about such a great website! Jen Z- Burke, VA

My friend sent me your link last week, and I wish I had known about it sooner. We made this last night and put it over the cilantro lime rice. It was AMAZING. I was in such a food rut. Thank you for this!!

I'm seeing a few comments about excess liquid. the directions do not specify whether you are to drain the black beans and tomatoes? My hunch is to drain the beans, but what about the tomatoes with chili's? I'm looking forward to coming home tomorrow night to this yummy dinner. thanks!

We saw your recipe and we attempted to follow it. We made some changes. First, we crushed 3 taco shells into the crock pot and stirred them in. We cooked it on low for another half hour. Second, we added 7 tablespoons of Tostitos queso dip to the crock pot. We served it over brown rice with open flamed Azteca flour tortilla shells on the side (as pushers). We garnished with chopped romaine hearts and green onions. We realize we altered the calories, but it made a much more satisfying dish. Thanks!